Catalog
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| Issuer | British Caribbean Currency Board |
|---|---|
| Year | 1955-1965 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Reverse description | Central design features a standing figure of Britannia, helmeted and robed, holding a trident and accompanied by a sea-horse on either side, all raised on a decorative platform above a shield arrangement. The shield is divided into four quarters, each bearing the arms of member territories of the British Caribbean Eastern Group, with a central roundel depicting a sailing vessel encircled by the Latin motto. The date is divided on either side of the lower shield, flanking the denomination FIFTY CENTS. The circular legend BRITISH CARIBBEAN TERRITORIES EASTERN GROUP runs along the upper periphery within a toothed border, with the full Virgilian motto MISCERIQUE PROBAT POPULOS ET FOEDERA JUNGI DAMUS PETIMUSQUE VICISSIM inscribed on the central roundel. |
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| Mintage | 1955 - - 1,500,000 1955 - Proof - 2,000 1965 - - 100,000 1965 - Proof - 1965 - Prooflike - |
| Additional information |
The British Caribbean Currency Board was established in 1950 to provide a unified monetary system across Britain's scattered Caribbean territories — Barbados, British Guiana, British Honduras, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands — replacing the patchwork of colonial and local issues that had preceded it. This 50-cent piece was among the higher-denomination workhorses of that system, circulating across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously at a moment when Caribbean federation was still considered a viable political project.
The West Indies Federation collapsed in 1962, and most member territories pursued independent monetary arrangements within the decade. Production of this type ended in 1965.